Infighting, divisions and rebellion plagues most political parties, who are vying for the 136 wards of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.
Denial of party tickets is the main cause of rebellion
NAGPUR: Infighting, divisions and rebellion plagues most political parties, who are vying for the 136 wards of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) during the February elections.
While the Congress party is facing dissidence on a massive scale, the BJP and Shiv Sena are mired by unrest in their cadres, after most leaders were denied tickets to contest the civic body elections.
The saffron alliance, say political observers, is suffering from the loss of faith. BJP insiders say their cadres were keen on going into the polls alone, but the election strategists felt it would be suicidal to dump their ally at this stage, when the Congress and NCP are contesting the elections independently.
Barring four seats, where the allies have opted for a ‘friendly contest’, the BJP will field its candidates on 124 seats, leaving the remaining seats for the Shiv Sena.
The Congress is the worse hit, with former state Congress President Ranjit Deshmukh making noises, trying to stage a comeback after being sidelined by the party’s new ever-squabbling honchos - Vilas Muttemwar and Satish Chaturvedi.
While the former is the Union Minister of State, the latter is a minister in the Maharashtra government. Deshmukh has fielded 21 candidates, all party rebels who failed to secure tickets, and talks are that they have the backing of CM Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Political observers say the NMC elections would be exciting in many ways, given that the splinters of Republican Party of India are contesting the polls in alliance with the left parties, learning their lesson from the post-Khairlanji riots, where dalits took to streets hoodwinking their leadership.
Unification of the Republican groups will be a major factor, and would dent the Congress prospects in NMC polls, experts say.
Then there is a local factor — Lok Manch which has a command in a few pockets of Nagpur. The only party that is sitting pretty is the NCP, which had decided to go into the polls alone, though it is highly unlikely to wrest over 20 seats.
But it has managed to quell dissidence — by accommodating more workers in ticket-allotting process. The NCP would also eat into the Congress votes.
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